Obscuritate
by gibrelina
Summary: A journey through an underground passageway might bring more light than darkness over their lives. Everyone is scared of something.


_Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognize_

**Obscuritate**

"GO, GO, GO!"

That's Hotch and he is shouting like their lives depend on it. Actually theirs don't, but Janice Crow's life certainly does. She has been missing for 12 hours and if they have figured the whole thing out correctly, she's supposed to be somewhere here. Somewhere inside this old stone house. Somewhere they haven't looked yet.

Everyone is spread inside the area, but there is no noise. Morgan is quietly walking around the place when he finally hears something coming from the kitchen. A kitchen is a place which withholds a great array of possible weapons, so is no wonder Morgan steps inside it, gun pointed straight to both sides and then front.

"It's just me, man!"

And indeed, it is.

"Godamn it, Reid!" Morgan whispers walking up to him. Reid, while an amazing brain, has serious problems with focusing in this sort of operation. He always found he could win more using his mind than his gun. Morgan wouldn't have minded it, if it hadn't been such a dangerous habit, "Hold your gun straight, the guy could be anywhere." He doesn't point his gun away until Reid grabs his. The guy's eyes are mortally fixed on a painting though, and it would be a waste of time not asking, "What is it?"

"This is Jacek Yerka."

Morgan bites the inside of his cheek forces himself to look at the large picture occupying most part of the wall. It seems like many orange trees and with winged-clocks flying around and a door leading to this place with many other passageways and staircases. Not for the life of him he can understand what is so amazing about it. Reid, though, is running a long finger through the painting, his Glock hanging limply on his other arm. Morgan has his gun pointed at the only door, eyes trained and vigilant. He feels like grabbing Reid and pulling the kid with him towards the others, who are taking a look at the upper floors of the incredibly large house. The stone walls give out a cold feeling, and he really wants to get the job done and get out instead of studying art pieces.

But he has to admit he knows Reid enough to know he'd never waste their time in such a distressful situation without reason. And he is aware that asking the kid to explain himself will be a waste of precious time, so he tries to protect them from an attack the best way he can and waits. He doesn't have to wait too long though. Soon Reid is pulling on the edges of the frame, only it doesn't seem to come out and he says quietly more to himself than anything.

"I guess it's a mechanism so that it won't be obvious, right? Just think...Oh, we don't have time..."

A noise startles them and Morgan agrees between gritted teeth, "No, we don't, genius!"

"Ok, ok!" He grabs his Glock now firm in his hand, and instead of getting out of there, he shoves it against the painting with all his strength. Morgan looks at him bewildered because clearly he has just lost his mind. When he looks at the hole in the middle of the canvas though, he realizes there has never been a wall on the other side. A stone hallway can be seen, but farther away it's hiding only pitch black darkness. Reid keeps ripping the painting, but Morgan doesn't move from his position.

"How did you know that?"

"This Yerka painting is a clear passageway symbol. Don't you see the unexpected place for it in it? And our unsub is a semiologist, I just thought he would find it fitting." Ripping it apart is taking too long and Reid kicks it so it goes faster, "And he did."

"Stand back, Reid." Reid does and Morgan points his gun and his flashlight inside. There's nothing in sight that looks dangerous. No sound and no light. "Ok, If we call Hotch we might warn the unsub too and he might not be in here, so we should let them search the house for now, they might find him. The victim is inside though and we need to go in now, but I need you to focus, Reid. Hold your gun straight 'cause if you don't we might be in trouble."

Reid nods and Morgan takes in he looks really uptight about something. Still he hold his gun in place and presses his lip together, a new look of determination on his face. "Let's go then."

He swallows hard as he says that.

Morgan chooses to ignore it because his nerves are already a wreck thinking about Janice Crow and what they may find in this tunnel. The woman is barely thirty, and he hopes her life is not ending so soon. The hallway is terribly straight so they can't walk side by side. He feels Spencer's breath on his neck. Foome reason his friens is getting closer and closer to his back every second. "Is there anything wrong, kid?"

"Not at all." He replies too quickly and creates a small space between them.

They reach a turn and there's a noise right above their heads, probably coming from their own colleagues. It 's enough to make Morgan stop too quickly, and consequently Spencer crashes onto him . The flashlight falls from the older agent's hand rolling down what looks like an infinite flight of stairs.

"What did you do Morgan?" Spencer squeals. His voice is high pitched and the breathing on his shoulder now is almost a pant. "Let's go, we have to get the flashlight back."

The other agent finally realizes some of what's going on. He can't help the teasing tone in his voice as he says, "You are afraid of the dark still, huh?"

"Morgan!" His voice is urgent, and Derek decides to use a different tactic. When Reid had told them he is afraid of the dark he had imagined it as something slightly less severe. But right now, he has to admit teasing isn't helping at all.

"Ok, we'll go down, but it's pitch black, and if we go too fast we'll fall down. And I want you to tell me why you are afraid of the dark as we are going, can you do that?"

"I already told you, I don't like the absence-"

"The truth, kid."

It sounds like something cruel, but Morgan is used to the idea that important things are the exact things which will take a person's mind of their fears. Babbling wouldn't help him much. And Morgan had gotten a glimpse of the staircase; it had been made by a man who didn't have much of an idea of what he had been building. The steps weren't evenly distributed at all, and he didn't want to add the risk of them breaking a leg to the whole ordeal.

"Let's go then, Morgan!"

"You'll tell me?"

"Whatever you want, ok? Just go!"

Derek takes a tentative step forward, both hands flat on each side of the stone wall. "So spill and walk slowly."

"I was ten and the kids locked me in one of the lockers. Cliché." He blurts out quickly. His breathing ragged and Morgan can only think about keeping him talking. Reid knows psychology, if this is about a past event; there is no reason to freak out now.

"Then someone found you?"

"Oh sure. They locked me there as they left from a game in the evening because I had won a Physic's Estate. I shouted for hours, but guess the school was empty already." He can't see his friend's face in the dark, but his tone voice changed to a bitter one."But they found me in the next day, so cool."

Morgan almost falls as his foot lands in a slippery stone. He warns Reid about it and the young man follows quietly, holding the wall for dear life.

"So tell me more."

"Morgan, I'm fine, you don't need to be my therapist. I had therapy enough to last a lifetime already."

"You are not fine; I can hear your heart beating, man, and it's louder than a thuder." Morgan grins.

"That's not, scientifically, a reliable fact."

"Step down slow now Reid, this is a terribly long stone."

Reid holds a near-by stone with all his strength willing his heart to calm down as he follows suit. Morgan doesn't give up yet, "So you've been afraid of the dark ever since? Never tried to help yourself?"

"I'm working on it." He mumbles and Morgan can't help but stifle a laugh.

"Don't joke man, you never tried, admit it."

"Irrational fear is caused by unbalanced chemical reactions inside your body. It's actually more about anxiety than fear directed towards an specific object. Maybe it's better to let it out than reprimand it."

"You know it isn't." Morgan chuckles.

"Shut up." Reid hisses and smacks Morgan's head; it obviously isn't meant to hurt.

Only it does hurt because Morgan's head hit a wall. "Ouch!"

"What's going on?"

"There's a wall here, a dead end."

"Ok, so the flashlight might be here get it!"

"Reid, don't do that, it's not a nice position."

"Am I hurting you?"

"Not at all, but you might hurt yourself, you are one step up and-"

Suddenly Morgan hears Reid's body slip and in the dark he tries to catch him. No success as his friend falls on his butt with a surprised yelp.

"You ok, kid?"

"There's something on the ground!"

And then the light comes on and Morgan can see his friend's face. Reid is sweating profusely and his hair is matted to his forehead. Morgan's eyes blink quickly at the sudden light, it's hard for him to see things clearly, but when he does he notices Reid is taking even more time. He also notices Reid is sitting in a puddle of…

"It's blood Reid, get out of there!" He pulls his unoriented friend up. His long fingers are gripping the flashlight forcefully and his eyes blink to Morgan. Then he sees how his hands are tinted with red blood and his mouth opens in a silent awe.

"Of course, the Valhol!"

Sometimes, Morgan has to admit, it is annoying not being able to follow. Now that the light is on, Reid throws himself at the floor where the steps end and starts to kick the gray stones, one by one with all the strength he can muster. "There's too much blood here, too much. She can't lose that much blood and not need immediate hospital attention."

"There might be some sort of way in from the set of stairs, we had no light and we didn't see. We should go back and check it" Morgan says matter-of-factly. He wonders if the others are missing them somewhere upstairs.

"No, he wouldn't do that. Middle of the stairs is weak, it holds no meaning. This is the end of the stairwell though; he would put it here, Morgan!" He keeps kicking the bricks as he pants, "You know the symbol he carves on the walls?"

"Sure, the Nordic symbol. Heaven sent."

"Vahol is the Nordic name for heaven, for the place the warriors go after death, but we were wrong all along, he carved it upside down, right? What if he's not heaven sent? There's an old legend that says there is a stairwell which goes down all the way down to hell itself in the center of the-"

And then Reid stops, his whole body freezing and his mouth hanging open. "Kid, what-"

"Whatever you do, don't move." Reid says slowly and his tongue suddenly feels dry inside his mouth. For the first time since the opening of the passageway Morgan is actually worried.

"Why?"

"The stairwell it's supposed to lead to the center of the world. If I'm right then the passageway shouldn't lead forward," He gulps as his eyes move from the dead end to the ground, "But downward."

They are standing on a small block of stone right beyond the last step. The knowledge they could fall at any time isn't a happy one and Morgan can't help but think he is paying for many more sins than the ones he committed in his life. There are seven people in the team, why do they have to be the ones stuck in a possible pitfall?

"Calm down Morgan!"

"I am calm!"

"You're making me nervous." Reid bites his lip and inspects the stone covered in blood. Morgan looks too because he's not sure what to do, if the victim is just below them he doesn't want her to die by two agents and a heavy stone block to the head.

Lucky thing he has an engineer with him.

Reid's flashlight is running around in circles over the ground around them making him dizzy. And then his breathing hitch and he says, "Sure, sure."

"What?"

"It's not a simple trapdoor. If I take a particular stone out, this whole block is going to slide down. I can see the hinges. Only I'm not really sure how we are suppose to take that stone out while standing on the last step and not here. But there has to be a way...if we take it out while we are here we are going to fall."

"He would need a crowbar"

"We don't have one." Reid points out and then adds, "So this is safe for now. Step up Morgan."

Morgan obeys without a second thought, thinking the kid needs more space to work his magic. He is sure Reid can get them out of here and into the next room easily. Only as soon as he moves, Reid crouches down in the direction of the small stones incrusted on the edge.

"Don't mess with them, you might fall, kid."

"I have to." Reid looks at him, "I can take a little fall ok? It wouldn't be high enough to kill, we both know that."

Morgan almost steps down again. Almost. But he certainly sounds angry as he spats, "No, you come back here, I don't want you to break a leg or anything. I'll do it."

"No, you wouldn't know which one to pull and you'll be of more help when it comes to getting the girl out, I'm muscleless." He states. There is a sudden movement in the dark and then Reid disappears.

Just like that.

Not exactly like that though. There is a loud noise which follows his disappearance. One is the stone working faster than he thought possible on its old hinges, the other is his own voice shouting "Reid!" and the third is a loud thump of body hitting ground.

Derek has to admit the whole plan is genius. The guy probably forced the girls to remove the stone, but when he wanted to go down, it wasn't exactly hard. Holding yourself up on the stone which was reclined to the ground you only have to jump a few feet down be standing up again.

The hatch can only be open from the outside.

It is dark inside and the only thing he can see is stone wall. His stomach crumbles as he realizes that means Spencer isn't holding the flashlight. He jumps down carefully and takes the flashlight in his hand foccusing it on his friend.

Reid is lying there propped on one of his elbows. He doesn't look too hot.

"You are so stubborn, man, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Morgan." Only he is as white as a sheet and his voice is shaking slightly. No need to have a high IQ to realize he is in pain.

He surveys the room with the flashlight and stops by the far left corner. There is a dark form there around a halo of light blonde hair. She's thrown on the ground like a rag doll and Morgan runs to her quickly.

They need an ambulance so he hopes someone from the team sees the broken painting and calls them soon enough.

"Hey, Janice!"

She doesn't move and Morgan takes her pulse. The blood is pulsing somewhat slowly, but she's alive. There's a large gash on her leg and that's where the blood appears to be coming from. He evaluates quickly and nothing appears to be broken.

"We need to get her out of here."

Morgan moves the flashlight back to Reid. His face is even whiter than before now that he has been left in the dark for awhile and Derek really hopes he doesn't pass out on him. He feels bad for not taking care of his best friend now, but there's a woman dying. And whatever Reid has got going right now, he's pretty sure the kid is going to live a long nerdy life.

"Janice, can you hear me?"

But the woman is completely out. Luckily she's petite and Morgan picks her up so easily he can barely believe she weights more than a feather. Her arms fall limply by her sides and then he hears an unexpected sound, coming from the stone hallway.

Reid, standing directly below the hatch, points his gun up and shouts "FBI, FREEZE!"

To their surprise though, the voice is one they both know well. "Hey, this is Rossi, don't shoot me."

His face pops through the hole and he sees the victim. "Hotch found the unsub in the attic." He looks down at Reid and his eyes widen a little, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," He forces a smile that looks more like a grimace, "But I think it's better if you help Morgan moving her, you know."

Nobody questions because the girl is bleeding out and they need an ambulance. Rossi clears him on the fact that they are calling one already, and suddenly Emily is by their side helping them as well. Prentiss allows Rossi to carry Janice away and looks down again, her legs dangling from the open hatch.

As soon as the girl is safe, Morgan kneels down next to Reid. He is propped up on his side, hair falling on his eyes. Seeing as everybody had been busy with Janice he had allowed himself to let out what he had been feeling and now it sounds pretty difficult to pretend again and not show he can feel a considerable amount of pain, enough to make him terribly lightheaded.

"Ok, where is it?" Emily asks worriedly.

"M-my arm." He stutters and looks terrified as Morgan tries to get a look. "It's fine, I can get up without an arm." He instantly proves it by getting up slowly and then leaning against the stone wall breathing fast.

"Stubborn as hell, aren't we?" Morgan shakes his head. "Hey Emily could you grab us a chair? I think Reid got hurt enough today."

Reid protests with no avail. He has his eyes closed and mouth half open most of the time. Morgan tries to take a look at his arm, but the long sleeves cover it and they are only slightly sparkled in blood.

With a chair it is actually easy to hand Reid over to Rossi, who has come back. A extremely embarrassed looking Reid pulls away as soon as he can, saying a low thanks under his breath with another grimacing smile.

When Morgan finally gets out of the hole he is impressed how fresher the air is outside. He feels like oxygen has never tasted this good. Giving a brief explanation to Hotch about how they had figured it out and hearing his side on the unsub's catch he walks to the stretcher where Janice Crow is connected to multiple wires.

"Is she going to be fine?"

A young woman smiles sympathetically at him. "She lost so much blood and there's just so much we can do. But we are already blood testing and then we can get her a transfusion. She's slightly dehydrated, but all in all I think she'll be fine."

Reid is standing by his side looking at the woman too.

"So, you saved the day?" Morgan says and put a hand on his left shoulder. "Now is time to get looked at."

"It doesn't even hurt anymore." Reid replies and Morgan knows it's true because there is a pleading tone in his voice, so that he can convince his friend not to allow the doctor to poke him and bring the pain back. That almost, just almost, makes Morgan give in.

"Don't pout." He chuckles and pushes his friend quietly in the direction of some paramedics."Hey sweetheart," he turns to one of the young doctors, "He hurt his arm, could you take a look at it for us, please?"

The girl can't be much older than Reid himself, but she makes him sits in the ambulance as she introduces herself, "Hey, my name is Shirley. Ok, let's get that looked at."

Instead of pulling his arm, she looks at it apprehensively and then takes a pair of scissors.

"Goodbye, last millennium shirt." Morgan jokes as she cuts the sleeve open. He really wants to lighten up the atmosphere, because Reid seems tense. When Morgan looks at his arm he understands why the kid is so tense.

There is a bone in his wrist protruding too high for it to be normal causing the area to swell at least four times its normal size. A superficial scratch starts on his elbow and ends on his palm. It isn't bleeding much, but looks painful enough.

When the girl touches his wrist, Reid squirms. She doesn't look to happy. "You fell on your arm, didn't you?" And then, as if she just realizes she shouldn't scare him, she gives him a small smile, "I can fix it, but you need to go to the hospital, got to take some X rays."

And then she goes to help Janice.

Morgan sits by Reid's side and they are silent for awhile. Even with his arm wrecked, Reid looks slightly better now, with all the ambulance and car lights than back at the tunnel where it was pitch black. His friend tucks his hair behind one ear with his good hand so it won't fall on his face.

"What happened to them?"

Morgan notices it takes him a long time to register the question. When it does Reid looks at him like he's gone balmy.

"The other victims are long gone, Morgan. What are you talking about?"

"I'm not talking about them." Morgan chuckles. He has this thing about laughing to make everyone comfortable. It's his trademark to some extent. "I'm talking about the kids who locked you up in that locker."

Reid's mouth opens in a silent O of understanding, but he keeps quiet for awhile. Realizing he can't shrug he lifts one of his hands with the palm up and raises his eyebrows with a snort, "Nothing happened to them. They said they'd catch who did it back then, but there was no proof, and no one would ever believe me. No one even wanted to believe me because one of the kid's father had buttloads of money invested in the Mirage."

Morgan pushes it "And no one insisted on the case? A kid locked up for over six hours?"

Reid sighs and the older agent has the distinct impression he is too tired to get angry, "My father had already left and my mom never noticed I wasn't home. No one cared about what bullies did to me as long as I didn't leave the school. That's called high school, Morgan."

"No way, that's called unfairness." Morgan retorts and deep down he feels anger by proxy.

"Whatever" He gazes at the doors of the ambulance closing shut. "Do you think she'll be scared for life too?"

It's a funny thing how Reid can be the adult holding a gun and figuring out where passageways are hidden, but suddenly turns into a child with big brown eyes asking simple questions. It's common knowledge in the BAU Reis is a genius, and still lacks several understanding of life itself.

Now is one of those times this truth is crystal clear to Morgan.

He messes up Reid's hair and says, "She might not be, you know? The shining knight saved her this time."

"What if she is? Anxiety disorders can be commonly seen after traumatic events, especially severe traumas like the one she just went through."

"Then she'll live with it, Reid." Morgan replies without hesitation. "Everyone is scared of something. Fear might be a bit of an exaggerate fascination."

Reid's eyes turn to him accusingly, ""What are you scared of?"

It is Morgan's time to grimace, "I got to find Rossi."

"Oh, are you' scared of telling me what you're scared of?" Reid laughs and it's sort of nice to see his friend so outrageously happy for a change.

"Yeah, whatever. Maybe I'm an exception." Morgan answers walking to where everyone is gathering.

"Maybe I'll find out eventually." Reid shouts back. He looks at all of them gathering a few feet away and his brain is confused whether to focus on them, on Morgan's possible fears or on the pain starting to grow back up the length of his arm. JJ comes quickly to his side asking her bundle of motherly question about how he's feeling, and if he needs anything and making sure he knows she is going to ride with him. Not bothering to ask if he wants anyone in the ambulance in the first place.

And that chain of actions clicks something inside his brain.

"Hey JJ, when you go back to the guys, tell Morgan his answer would be Garcia."

"What does Garcia has to do with anything?"

Reid shakes his head, but there is an undying smile etched to his face now, "He'll know, I guess."

JJ looks at him and raises her eyebrows. Instead of asking questions though, she puts both hands on her waist, dangerously near the gun holster and demands, "What are you waiting for? Get your lazy butt in the ambulance."

He's suddenly more worried about crazed JJ with her blonde hair all over the place than of the pain in his broken wrist. He's sure she's only holding back from pushing him because, after all, he's sitting on an ambulance. Her tone changes drastically to a, "C'mon Spence, I just want you to get better. You just get into too much trouble and I get wrinkles worrying about you."

He obeys her quietly, walking inside the ambulance trying not to move more than the necessary. And as he sits in the gurney, he's sure he's got it right about Garcia being Morgan's fascinating fear. When he sees her with him he's reminded of JJ. Fascination with fears it's sort of what it feels like being in a real high place and having that impulse to jump just because it probably feels too good to pass up.

The abyss attraction, philosophers have said all over the globe.

And sometimes JJ is that. She's that scary mother hen, taking care of him like he's a baby and she's also somewhat like sitting by a warm fireplace in the most comfortable chair drinking hot chocolate in a cold day.

JJ doesn't know exactly why, but she sees her friend smiling and a smile appears on her face too.

Morgan is watching as the ambulance door closes from his SUV when his phone rings. On the caller ID he reads a familiar name.

He exclaims, "Hey Baby Girl!"

"Don't Baby Girl me, JJ told me you and Reid got hurt going on your own in an underground tunnel!" She reprimands in a desperate voice, "What were you thinking?"

Morgan thinks hard before trying to answer in his best I'm-ok-voice.

"I'm ok Garcia. Reid is the one who got hurt, but he is fine too. He just broke his wrist. The kid will live."

She doesn't follow suit and act less snappy with him. He isn't sure why he expected her to.

"Whatever. I hope you both come home in one-piece or else..."

She hangs up and he remains with the phone in his hand for awhile. He's going to get it when he gets to the BAU headquarters. Garcia always tries to rip his head out of his shoulders when he gets in trouble while doing his job, which is kind of unfair if you think about it.

But he is always scared one day he'll do it one time too many. That one day he'll actually hurt her for real and she won't be so easy to have back. Garcia is always there, especial and untouchable and he wants it to be like this forever. Protecting her is an instinct

Life without Garcia would probably lose half of its colors.

As he turns the engine of his car on, the only thing that makes him feel better is that everyone is scared of something. Be it the dark, or anxiety, or heights, or losing Garcia. And if Reid managed to walk through darkness for all that time, he could manage a tiny bit of fear. If Reid managed to fall down a dark abyss to help someone, Morgan would be alright.

Because what really matters about fear, is how you face it.


End file.
